Loss To Seahawks Only The Latest Playoff Gut Punch For Vikings
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It instantly enters the pantheon of Vikings playoff gut-punches, right on par with some of the all-timers. Kind of par for the course for this franchise.
Classic Vikings.
Joining the likes of Pearson's Push-Off, 41-Donut, Gary Anderson and 12 Men In The Huddle. Another chapter written in this franchise's history of postseason choke jobs.
"These are the playoffs, it's the most important time of the year," said kicker Blair Walsh, who hooked the should-have-been-game-winner left of the upright. "And the fact that I wasn't able to come through in that situation, that kick, it's tough."
Walsh will no doubt take the brunt of it. But this game had no shortage of goats. They just got progressively worse.
There was Josh Robinson, leaving Tyler Lockett open to haul in a 35-yard gain on a broken play, then getting burned on Seattle's touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin.
There was Adrian Peterson, whose fumble-itis once again reared its ugly head at the worst possible time.
Gallery: Seahawks 10, Vikings 9
"I don't put that ball on the ground, they're not able to get that field goal and take the lead," Peterson said. "So that's something that will haunt me throughout the offseason."
And then there was, well, what happened at the end. Shades of Gary Anderson. Wide Left, Part Two. Walsh said the snap and hold were fine and so was his footing. He said he had no idea what caused him to miss.
"I just didn't put a swing on it that would be acceptable by anybody's standards," Walsh said. "I work real hard, and I worked real hard to get myself to a place where I was very, very consistent for this team all year. And in that moment, the moment they needed me the most, I wasn't. So that stings."
Mike Zimmer said there was no excuse for the miss.
"Snap maybe was a little high," Zimmer said. "But I mean, it's a chip shot. He's gotta make it."
But the hardest part of all of this has to be, undoubtedly, for Vikings fans. Simply because for them, this feeling is far too familiar.
"I never felt like there was any 'Here We Go Again' today," Zimmer said. "We missed a field goal, we lost the game."
